New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-17
gyGLayys MESSAGE TO The HEATHEN

r1,i l. tngIand's Jubilee year, but in com
raar.,ino the otories OF the vIctorifn epoch
enc # her tanepyris,s have undertaken to
cxpot,atc upon che cnsots OF hfV wars Vi
.nrogresss upon her subject races YET wheh
the balance sheet is struck by when inc fuo
status of the nations is determined. tnere VIII 'o
no suppression OF the hideous facts whien 'o-u"9
Are 40 smoothly CLOSED over or lgnofed ou' ''''
h,sc,r and b,oody swath moved through score
Of undivided peoples BY the shameless nv
Of british creed acting upon tn heathens through
,t,,,.h 5,inls Will he laid TO the account oil the
entity One voice indeed. that of Archdeac0n
Payrar has lately been raised In reproof ana
,snopition In the Contemporary Bcview ZOE
,be current month. under the caption "Airiea
ard the Drink Trade he brings together mass
~ damuatory evidence. lie shows, what uhhap-
ni,v was no news. That the same country which
an the beginning Of the century made SO hoolc
n seif-sacriace TO strike down African shVery'
toward the close Of the same century has laehu-
a.d hers.l with a social d commercial movement
which has already brought conditions worse 'n'n
those of slavery TO the Lark CONTINENT anu
which threaten 70 piungc the entire population Vi
TINT vast area into hopeless ruin and decay
Rut l.nplands drink has demoralized many
peorles besides those of Africa. ,WhereVf t'c
mo, sh trader keel floats or his foot treads the
,Icoholic pcstilence breaks out. There is scarce
An island in the great archipelagoes IN inc "ah''
Iapuan. Nclanesan, Micronesl an groups "here
the rup-bottlc has not made more progress thah
the missionary There III not land conquered
OR colonized by England where English drink
has not debancbed native simplicity from
Australia 10 tal cutta, from hohe hons
to the Falkland islands, from MauriluS
to CeyIon the nation whose sovereign wr'"s
herself defender Of the Faith has carried anu
,anqbt the use of the deadbest poison invented
NV humanity Nor is there in the prosecution Oh
Ills internal traine the faintest pretene OF
consideration for the destined victims. The
drink yended among the heather Is the most
obom;nable the fcrcest. the most deadly stun
dis,i,led When Mauritius became sugar colony
the PUN made there was unfit for expectation to
ENGLAND So il was sent TO Madagascar; and
when the frightful re;ults IN crime and disease
led the yIaIagassy King TO prohibit the importa-
ton. the Mauritius merchants complained inc
English Government interfered, and free rum was
forced upon the island. In the same manner
Opium was forced upon China at the point OF
the bayonet. With less enrontery but equal
absence II principle British liquor has been pusned
through the Valley of the Congo and the mis-
sionaries have been driven to confess that against
this foe they could make no headway.
From time to time inquiries arc made as 10 inc
rapid decay Of the native races brought into
contact with Europeans. Undoubtedly the chief
cause of this decline is the European drink
traffic 1t has poisoned the sources OF life In
almost every savage habitat. 1t has nullihed
every honest effort TO spread Christianity. IL
has given the lie to the statements OF the mis-
sionaries 1t has reinforced every vicious and
demorallzing influence already in existence. IL
has caused the more intelligent heather to reject
the profIered religion OF people who, while
praising God with their mouths, worship the
devil with their hands. The awful contrast be-
tween Christian profession and practice was
never so markedly thrown into high relief as In
this matter 1t is an enormous stain
upon the page Of highlands progress
and it conveys to the clearsighted as
ominous n threat as the luminous message that
disordered Belshazzar's feast with its fiery as
moi